I loved the tone of this book - it takes me away to a different land. I was really excited that this title was a novella. So many students have a hard time getting through a longer book and this would be a great way to get them interested in the author. Unfortunately, for me, I had a really hard time connecting with any of the characters. There was so much potential with the plot to create a tale that would have me rooting for anyone, but this didn't do it. The conflict that was there didn't leave me with any sense of turmoil or concern. For that reason, I had a hard time wanting to pick this book back up. I will recommend it to students, but with the caveat that they should check out her books.

For such a short novella, this one surely packs a punch. There is so much story here in just 75 pages but I could have kept reading. I am not always a fan of sibling led stories but this one is beautifully done. If you have read any of Naomi's other works and are a fan of those, you should most definitely like this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Summerlings! So tragically dramatic! I read this book straight through and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wonder if the father doesn't have some level of sorcery given how often he just "knew" things?
In any case, I'm quite sure no one would regret buying/reading this book, so do it!

A thoroughly enjoyable fable, set in an intriguing world. Evenly paced and well told, The Summer War is the perfect place to get started with Naomi Novik's work. The fantasy world felt well-crafted, and the characters - while not having much space to emerge in such a short novella - were still engaging.

First, thank you thank you thank you for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this work. I absolutely love Naomi Novik. I own all of her current books, some in several forms including special editions and am constantly on the look out for more. I've been dying to get my hands on arcs of hers!

This book is very similar in style to both Uprooted and Spinning Silver. It is a lovely, light and easy to read fantasy full of lore, traditional fae like myth and magic.

I received this arc and read the entire book in one day, practically in one sitting I loved it so much.

The main character Celia unintentionally curses her brother when she becomes angry and worried she will lose him forever. Descending from an ancient sorceress, her powers awaken and the entire storyline is thrown into hyperdrive. You see her start as a child, grow into a young woman. She loses her older brother, gains another one in the form of her originally "unwanted" other brother, marries a fae prince and saves two kingdoms (with the assistance of both her brothers) in a very quick and fun to read story.

I like that in such a quick paced book, you get to see her grow, her brother Roric come into his own and her father grow.

I love the way that Novik weaves folk lore into refreshing new tales while keeping everything a reader loves about them alive.

I will be on the lookout for this book to hit the shelves and hopefully, special editions as well!!

Novik’s prose always draws me into her stories and The Summer War was no exception. In this compelling fairy tale-esque novella, twelve-year-old Celia inadvertently curses the brother she cannot bear to be parted from and, in doing so, dooms him to a life without love.

Every sentence in this novella contributed to the momentum of the story and the world building created a believable setting for the narrative. I particularly liked the way that power and magic could be influenced by the changing of the seasons. I read this in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thank you to Del Ray, Random House Worlds, Inklore and NetGalley for sharing this eARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

Easily could have another 200+ pages of this story but at the same time I was really happy with this novella. Loved the dynamics between Celia and her brothers, Argent and Roric.

It's a beautifully written story with themese as unbreakable family bond, a love story all combined in a fairy tale. The ending is predictable but that doesn't take away from the story.

Naomi did such a good job on world-building, atmosphere and creating connections with the characters you just get suck into the story.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an arc for an honest review

This could seem weird, but while I was reading The Summer War I kept thinking that it felt like a classic fantasy tale that would have been told around the campfire in an epic fantasy. Like a story told within a larger story. This felt like a true classic fantasy to me. It's lyrical and immersive and poignant. Naomi Novik has such a unique style of writing that you'll recognize if you've read any of her stories. What she managed to accomplish in under 150 pages was incredible. I was left completely satisfied, which is hard for me to feel while reading a novella, but also I felt I would have been happy if this had been a full length story.

I love the idea that familial love can change and grow, even when you thought there was no hope. That every person in a family has their place and strengths if you're willing to take the time to look for them. There is also a beautiful queer storyline that made my heart absolutely ache.

This is going to be great for fans of Naomi Novik's other works (specifically Spinning Silver & Uprooted) and T. Kingfisher.

Poignant and lyrical, THE SUMMER WAR is perfect for the fans of Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver and Uprooted, with a twisty plot and fae-magic worldbuilding.

I don't think this is going to be as much everyone's jam as the Scholomance series, but for whatever reason, everything Naomi Novik writes is just tailor-made for me! If you especially liked Irina's parts in Spinning Silver, The Summer War is going to be for you too. A lovely combination of political machinations, magical rules-lawyering, and genuine familial love.

Love this author and enjoy the novella format. Diving right into the story with only enough world building to understand. A quick read!

I’m always so excited when Naomi Novik publishes something new, and this short novella is yet another jewel in her crown. I’m thrilled that I had the opportunity to read it early and I think a lot of readers will love it. It’s a very quick read - I finished it in a single reading session - but one that I know I will come back to and read again. I would especially recommend it to readers who love fairytale takes that have a slightly different spin - think Novik’s prior novel **Spinning Silver**, **Nettle and Bone** by T. Kingfisher or **Stardust** by Neil Gaiman. In terms of the writing itself, the best comparison I can make is to the wonderful Lois McMaster Bujold, which is one of the highest compliments I can give.

This is an elegantly written fairy tale story, beautifully executed. It’s not hugely innovative, but it does what it’s trying to do, so the relative simplicity didn’t bother me in any way. It has a similar prose style to **Spinning Silver**, but it is not as complex, due to the length and the single POV. If she expanded this idea into a full length novel, I would be thrilled. As it is, it's a delightful bite-sized morsel. It tells a complete story and only left me wanting more in the sense that I would happily read another 500 pages set in this world. I really hope Novik is considering writing new stories in this same universe. I thought the writing was especially beautiful in this novella; I found myself highlighting so many phrases and moments that really sung.

Things I loved:
- beautiful prose
- a great take on the Fae and on human/Fae diplomacy
- a moving story about sibling relationships
- incredibly strong thematic work
- there is a lovely queer storyline in the background, which was beautifully executed

Things I didn’t love:
- that it wasn’t either 500 pages long or the first in a series of at least 10 novellas

What a treat this was to read! I can’t recommend it highly enough. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. Huge thanks to Naomi Novik, Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore | Del Rey, and NetGalley for generously providing an ARC for review!

What a fun fairytale! This felt very similar in vibes to The Cruel Prince while still being very different. I enjoy these types of fairytale stories a lot, so I think this just overall worked for me. I did think it was a little info-dumpy at the beginning, and I would’ve liked a little more thorough ending. All in all though, a fun time! Thanks for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Naomi Novik is what Neil Gaiman calls an "otter" author; unlike a dolphin, an otter won't do the same trick each time. So her stuff is sometimes very much to my taste (<i>[book:Spinning Silver|36896898]</i>), sometimes very much not (the Scholomance books), and sometimes somewhere in between (Temeraire).

Happily, this one worked very well for me, even though it's about the Fae (the word is never used, but that's clearly what the Summerlings are), and I'm wary of Fae books because... well, because there are too many of them, and some are not good.

This version of the Fae is very much like the legends. They're bound by their word, they have a completely different set of values from humans, they have a completely different sense of time and will hold a grudge for human generations and seek to wipe out an insult in <i>all human blood</i>, they're beautiful and mysterious and closely linked with nature. These particular ones are linked, in particular, with summer, and it's only in summer - very generously defined - that the Green Bridge from their country to the human lands exists. Which is fine when they're trading, not so great when they are invading every year that they remember that a human king insulted the sister of the Summerling prince when he married her, causing her to commit suicide. (They don't always remember. Their memory is different from that of humans too.)

This war went on for a hundred years, and was ended by the protagonist's father before she was born (to an illegitimate daughter of the king, whose hand he obtained as a reward for winning the war through the same cunning that got him a fox as his emblem).

The protagonist, Celia, is, therefore, a descendant of a Sorceress Queen from long before, and manifests sorcery herself for the first time in many generations - accidentally cursing her brother in the process. She then sets about trying to fix her mistake, with the help of their disregarded middle brother, and ends up caught in the continuing aftermath of the original grievance of the summerling prince and also the complications ensuing from the way the war was ended.

Celia makes an excellent protagonist. She's intelligent, level-headed and creative, like her father. She's also good-hearted, and wants the best outcome for everyone, if she can just figure out how to get it.

Along the way she discovers, by allying with the middle brother, that you can choose to love someone, and that doing so is generally the best move. There's some wonderful family-dynamics stuff in general: father/son misunderstandings, and siblings not understanding each other either, admiring or being jealous of or ignoring each other, and eventually communicating.

It's beautifully written, with evocative descriptions of a well-imagined summer court, but not to the point of being overwritten or showing off. The plot is well conceived; it drew me along because I wanted to know, and couldn't imagine, how Celia (and her brothers) could possibly manage to bring about a good outcome for all concerned.

I've marked it as YA, mainly because Celia is 12 at the start of the book and 15 by the end, but it's like T. Kingfisher's young protagonists in that it's fully enjoyable by an adult reader. In fact, it's very like T. Kingfisher in general.

Good stuff, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was nominated for a few awards. It has enough depth and originality, too, that I'm putting it in the Gold tier of my annual best books list.

Although short this has a big impact, beautiful writing, a very sweet emotive story, loved this, wished it was longer

I was absolutely enchanted by Novik's writing, and how she was able to compose such a completed storyline into a novella. The pacing and the prose were also well done. It is evident through this story that Novik is a technical writer, but also someone who masters emotional and character development. I would definitely recommend, especially to fans of the author.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advanced readers copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.


Naomi Novik does it again. I devoured this sweet, touching story about the love between siblings in one sitting. I loved reading Celia and her family, and was fascinated by the world they existed in.

The Summer War is an enchanting tale. At it's heart the story is of a girl learning that her words have consequences and how much it takes to fix the mistakes of those words.

Novik knows how to write a story that sucks you in and won't let you go. I would definitly recommend this book.

As a huge fan of Naomi Novik's previous book, Spinning Silver, this short novella hit me right in the feels.

An enchanting story from start to finish. Brilliant storytelling with the right set of pacing. Although this was a short story, Novik managed to create such a beautiful relationship between all the characters. I especially enjoyed seeing how the family dynamics changed as the story progressed. The 3 siblings deserve all the happiness in the world.

I only wish that the story was longer! I could have easily read another hundred or so pages just to stay in this world.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey for this ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

As always Naomi Novik is in a class of her own. The Summer war is a sweet fairytale about love that had me tearing up at times.

I really loved the relationship between Celia and both her brothers. I liked that the story allowed all the siblings to show their worth and their devotion to each other.

I also loved the description of the Summer lands and the Summerlings. The idea that the summerlings would just forget they were fighting a war for years on end and just not turn up was one of the most fae-like things I’ve ever read. I really hope there will be more novellas or even longer stories set in the summer lands.

I will read anything and everything Naomi Novik writes.

Thank you to NetGalley and DelRey for the opportunity to read this ARC.